GMT +8

Here's something that confused me for about a week: Daylight Savings Time happened and I didn't realize it. I'm now one hour further into the future! Speaking of the future...


One day on the train, Mike and I spotted a New York Yankees t-shirt that read "2009 World Champions."

"The Taiwanese really love the Yankees, eh?" Mike observed (yes, he is Canadian). Yankees apparel is more than abundant in Taiwan, thanks to 'Yankee fever' brought over by Tainan native Chen Ming Wang (I'm desperately waiting for the discovery of a vaccination).

"Yeah, they do," I agreed. "But wait, the Yankees didn't win the World Series in 2009. Nobody did."

This was about 6 months ago. I thought for sure such a bold prediction would jinx the Yanks. No such luck.

Just to give you an idea

After a long day of window-shopping and wandering around Taipei, Mike and I wound up in the XinYi area (near Taipei 101). In the food court of one of the malls, we found an interesting food venue.

It was very similar to the concept of a Dunkin Donuts/Baskin Robbins and KFC/Taco Bell joint restaurant. Only this place served some gourmet-looking ice cream and frozen yogurt on one end of the counter, and squid shavings on the other end.

Allow me to explain what I mean by "squid shavings." Imagine yourself peeling a potato or a carrot with a peeler. Now imagine a squid in your hand instead of that potato or carrot. Now imagine putting the shavings in a little french fry pouch.

To be honest, I didn't even notice the squid shavings at first. Not because I'm used to seeing such, how can I say, delicious treats (who remembers Tuna Tidbits?), but because I had a jonesin' for a strawberry/vanilla swirl and was damn focused on getting it.

While my soft serve ice cream was being caught by my swiveling wafer cone, Mike and I heard what was, although in Chinese, undeniably the sound of a child begging for something. A parent was being dragged to the Ice Cream/Squid counter, and to my amazement, the child kept pointing at the little bags of squid shavings until one was in her hands.

Mike and I watched the girl happily walk off, leaving us standing there dumbfounded holding ice cream cones.

Spain for a Day

The Squirrels are over English... we've moved on to Spanish.

On Friday evening, we finally had our International Day show. For the occasion, each teacher had to choose a country to have their class learn about and then present to the parents. In general, our school has a major emphasis on drama and role-plays, but International Day is one of the only occasions where the parents get to see their kids in action speaking English. Between that and the parent/teacher meeting immediately after, the day is kind of a big deal. Since my class has been in the kindergarten the longest (almost 3 years), I was given only two words of instruction: "Impress us."

I decided to teach my class about Spain. With a country like Spain, there is plenty of material to work with and lots of fun and interesting facts to include in a presentation. About six weeks ago we began preparation. This included writing a script, assigning parts, making/getting props, working out stage directions and transitions, and of course, making sure the students memorized their lines with acceptable pronunciation.

After a handful of rehearsals for the front office, we were ready to go! In front of a large crowd of parents, the show was executed with perfection. Between the large tomato fight, the choreographed bullfighting scene, and the elaborate and synchronized Spanish dance (all the credit for the dance goes to my co-teacher), the Squirrels blew everyone away with a great performance, making one very proud Teacher John.

Due to the unlikelihood that I will be able to obtain video footage of the show that will most likely be nominated for Best Performance, Best Director, and Best Choreography, I will supply you with the original script. Should you choose to actually read it (you should, you might learn something), bear in mind that my class could sight-read most of this.

Spain: An Introduction

Bienvenidos a Espana! That means “Welcome to Spain!” Spain is one of the most beautiful countries in the world. In fact, more people visit Spain every year than any other country except for France. Spain has beautiful beaches, majestic landscapes and is also full of culture and history. What else does Spain have? Let’s find out.

Spain is located in Southwestern Europe. The capital of Spain is Madrid. Spain is on the Iberian Peninsula. A peninsula is a piece of land that has water on 3 sides. Spain shares a border with France on the north side and Portugal on the West.

The official language of Spain is Spanish. There are around 400 million Spanish speakers worldwide, making it the fourth most spoken language in the world. Spanish is also the official language in 20 other countries, including Mexico, Chile, and Peru.

The Spanish flag has three horizontal stripes: two are red and one is yellow. In the yellow stripe is the Spanish Coat of Arms, which represents Spain’s constitutional monarchy. That means that Spain has a democracy, but also has a king.

The population of Spain is about 46 million people. That’s twice as many people that live in Taiwan! Spain is also about fifteen times bigger than Taiwan, with an area of about 504,000 km. Almost ¼ of Spain’s residents live in its two biggest cities: Madrid and Barcelona.

Spain has a very diverse geography. It has areas with mountains, plains, and it also has some islands. This makes the weather in Spain very different all over the place. Spain has five different climates within the country. Climate is another word for the weather in a country.

Culture

The most popular religion in Spain is Catholicism. Almost 90% of Spanish people are Catholics. A long time ago, Spain had kings that made everybody in the country believe in the same thing. Now, people can do whatever they want.

One of the best features about Spain is its cathedrals. A cathedral is a giant church where people can go to pray. There are almost 100 cathedrals in Spain, and all of them are very beautiful. The most famous cathedral in Spain is “La Sagrada Familia,” which is in Barcelona.

Once very fun festival in Spain is “La Tomatina.” Every year in a town called Bunol, there is a large food fight. First, someone tries to get a ham from the top of a greased pole. Then many trucks that are filled with tomatoes come to Bunol and dump all the tomatoes in the street. Then, people throw them at each other for one hour.

Spain has many different kinds of foods. A lot of Spanish dishes are made with beans and rice. One very popular food is gazpacho, which is a cold tomato soup. Spain also has many very delicious desserts, such as arroz con leche, which is a kind of rice pudding mixed with milk. Flan is a kind of custard cake with caramel on top. Spain is also known for its seafood dishes, such as Paella.

A very popular and traditional kind of dancing in Spain is Flamenco. This is a very unique style of dancing that is usually with somebody playing the guitar and someone singing. Flamenco dancing is very difficult and very graceful.

The most popular sport in Spain is football. Spain is home to some of the most competitive football teams in the entire world. Real Madrid is one of the best teams in all of Europe. They’ve won the UEFA Champions League nine times. Many Spanish children play football and hope to be on a real team some day.

Famous Spaniards

My name is Rafael Nadal and I am a famous Spanish tennis player. Although I am currently ranked number 2 in the world, I was number 1 from August 2008 to July 2009. I got the nickname “The King of Clay” for winning 81 straight clay-court matches. I am only 23 years old and already have six Grand Slam titles.

My name is Pablo Picasso, but most people just call me “Picasso.” I am one of many famous artists to come from Spain. Many people don’t think I am a good artist because a lot of my paintings are abstract, which means they don’t always look like real things. However, my art is very recognizable, such as my painting called “Guernica.”

I am Salvador Dali, and I am also a famous Spanish artist. Just like Picasso, I am most famous for my abstract paintings. I lived from 1904 to 1989 and was an important part of the surrealist movement. You have probably seen my most famous painting: The Persistence of Memory.

I am Miguel de Cervantes, a Spanish writer from the 1500’s. I was so good at writing that some people call Spanish “The Language of Cervantes.” My most famous book is Don Quixote, which many consider to be the first modern novel, and one of the best ever written. Here is Done Quixote now…

Hello, I am Don Quixote of la Mancha. I traveled around Spain searching for a princess and doing many nice things for people. Most people thought I was so nice that I was a little bit crazy. I had a friend named Sancho that came with me to be my friend.

Bullfighting

Spain is also famous for bullfighting, also called “The running of the bulls.” In Pamplona, the bulls are released and chase people down the street. Even though it is very dangerous and scary, people like to run away from the bulls. At the end of the street, the bulls go into the bullfighting ring.

Bullfighting is a very traditional ritual. In the Running of the Bulls, a man called a “matador,” has a fight with a bull. First, the matador enters the ring with a red cape and a sword, and he salutes the audience. Then the bull is released.

Most of the bulls are very angry and run at the matador and try to stab him with its very sharp horns. Bullfighting is very dangerous. The matador has to be very careful as he dodges the bull. He uses the cape to distract it as he moves out of the way. Then, the bull gets too tired to run at the matador.

Once the bull is too tired to run around, the matador can move in for the kill. The matador gets the bull to charge him one more time, then quickly stabs him in the back of the neck, killing him instantly. Although many people think this is very mean, there are also many people who enjoy watching this and think it is very beautiful.

Ni Hao-lloween

Trick or treat!


Halloween is a very cute time of year to be working at a kindergarten.

In the morning, each class takes turns going through a decently elaborate haunted house set up in one of the classrooms. There were a few scare-stations built into it where Mike and I hid out and waited for the kids to come through. Escorted by the Chinese teachers, the kids came through in groups of about 4 or 5. Upon entry, the Chinese teachers would say the names of the kids loud enough for me and Mike to hear so we could adjust our scare level (ranging from doing nothing, to a spooky laugh, to reaching out from the dark to grab arms and legs). Given that the maximum age was probably 6 years old, and the average age was about 4, tears were inevitably shed.

Next stop: trick or treating! On a regular basis, my class, as mentioned before, is full of angels and princesses. To nobody's surprise, that's what they all were for Halloween. Just about every girl was wearing a long sparkling dress along with some girly accessory, along the likes of a tiara, wings, a wand, etc. The boys showed up as Batman, Superman, a knight, a pirate, and a pumpkin. And off we go...

Sticking close to school, we stopped at 5 pre-determined and pre-supplied shops around Shijr to sing the two Halloween songs we had been practicing for what seemed like the better part of my tenure here. Leaving my pride and shame at home that morning, I led my class around wearing a big diaper, a bib, and a pacifier dangling from my mouth. At around 11:00 on the morning of Friday, October 30, life went on as usual in Shijr, except for the costume parade making its way around town.



To cap off a great day, I "volunteered" to host the Halloween parade back at school. This involved me addressing the 100+ students in the kindergarten, and introducing each class and each student so they could show off their costumes.



Cute by day, but when the sun goes down, Halloween is just as it is back home: An excuse for girls to dress as slutty as possible because (they think) nobody will judge them.

Dave, Natalie, and me disguised as Bruce Lee, the Queen of Hearts, and a swimmer.



[special thanks to T-Chellie for the pics. My camera is, as one might say, "over the wall."]

A stroke of curiousity

When I come home, would it be at all rude or presumptuous for me to try to speak Chinese to any Asian-looking people I see on the street?

[That is rhetorical, depending on whether anyone answers it.]

Eureka!

I've discovered a way to learn Chinese while teaching! A simple, yet coy, operation where both parties can share a language exchange. My students and I have formed a successful symbiotic relationship. Here's the catch: My Chinese lessons are all in English. Sometimes terrible, broken English.

But that's just it. My students are at a level which they are both able and competent enough to use their English abilities and run with it beyond their comfort zone. They don't need to stick to the grammar patterns we've been learning, but they rather say whatever is on their mind using what they already know.

This is an idea that I've taken into consideration in the past few weeks:

I've stopped trying to teach, as one might conventionally think of teaching; filling someone's head with facts. Instead, I've started teaching by asking "how," and "why," and "what if" questions.

Try to remember what you learned when you were in kindergarten. Really. Try. Or don't, because it doesn't matter. The purpose of kindergarten is to build a foundation for education. I would put a large sum of NTD(New Taiwan Dollars) on the claim that my students won't remember what a stethoscope is or that a giraffe's tongue is 50 cm long(almost 2 feet...gross). However, assuming they continue their English studies, I hope that it will benefit them knowing that if someone asks them to describe a trip to the doctor, they have the confidence and ability to take a situation that happens in Chinese and recap it in English.

It's during these moments, which Oxford seminars has appropriately labeled "magic moments," when you, as a teacher, realize that the kid has just uttered a series of English words by utilizing every tool and every resource they've ever learned from you. It's pretty incredible listening to a kid try to tell you something, then stop mid-sentence because he realizes he doesn't know the English for the word he wants to use, start from the beginning and take a completely different approach on the same thought, using what he does know, and ultimately achieve his goal, which is usually teacher comprehension and satisfaction.

However precious these moments are, perfection is hardly the aim and almost never the result. And this is where my Chinese lessons come in(you either forgot or thought I forgot what I was talking about).

For months I've been teaching English without understanding exactly who I'm teaching it to. I've been trying my best to abolish what my class now refers to as "Baby Sentences," which I've come to realize are only literal translations from Chinese to English. Cue the lighting of the epiphanic light bulb because my job just got easier. After a few conversations with some of my Chinese speaking friends, they've translated the Baby Sentences back into Chinese, and I can understand what the students are trying to say, therefore making it easier for me to correct them.

"There have cockroach." This sentence pattern drove me nuts! That is, until I realized what it means. There (that place, i.e. the wall) have (in this case we'd say 'has,' as in 'in its possession') cockroach (species of indestructible insects that are ever-present in my classroom). "That wall has a cockroach," or how we'd probably say it in English, "There's a cockroach."

And what I extract from the situation is the Chinese grammar. In Chinese, it seems like everything "has" something; here, there, he, I. With the same approach, I've learned grammar patterns that make sense out of "I give you see," "So big check," "He used me," so on and so forth.

At the end of this long-winded post, I can only compare myself to the very kids that I teach. I, too, but at a much lower level, am taking words that I already know and using them in sentences that I've picked up on. While this may come across as logical, because yeah, it is, but like so many other things in life, without that "eureka" moment, logic just doesn't seem that logical.